Share this with

Sir David Attenborough has admitted that while he never cries during filming his wildlife documentaries, he does find himself getting more emotional.

The TV icon told The Times: ‘I’ve never cried while filming, but I suppose I cry more easily nowadays.

‘Well, tears don’t pour down my cheeks, but I blinked hard on November 11.’

While Sir David might be able to maintain a stiff upper lip on set, viewers at home have been left sobbing messes after watching the plight of various animals on his new show Dynasties.

In the most recent episode, the crew stepped in in Antarctica to help a team of baby penguins get to safety after they were left stranded in an icy pit.

It then emerged that one of Attenborough’s ‘rules’ about wildlife filming had been broken by the intervention, but the man himself said that he was misquoted.

Advertisement

Advertisement

He added: ‘What I said was that you have to be very careful in these situations.

Sorry, this video isn't available any more.

‘If you see a leopard stalking a fawn, and you’re able to save the fawn by helping it to get away, you’d probably only drive it off to a different area so that its mother wouldn’t know where it was. So these things have to be handled very carefully.

‘But if it’s an inorganic thing, as it was in this case, then why not?’

However, David previously defended leaving a baby elephant to die from dehydration while filming the 2013 series, Africa.

During a press conference, he told crowds: ‘All you’re doing is prolonging the death. So you make things infinitely worse. Tragedy is part of life and you have to show it. You can’t have sunshine throughout your life.

‘To have done anything else would only make matters worse and distort the truth.’

Dynasties airs Sundays on BBC One

Got a showbiz story?

If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you.